Where Music Comes to Play

Anythingbutipad – We Would Rather Call Them Tablets

The ‘pad seemed to be a big disappointment across the board of fans and foes. Whether it was due to the lack of Flash, multi-tasking, camera, USB input, removable battery, memory card reader, wide screen, …and the list goes on. The typical Apple hype machine failed, big time. Everyone were dismayed by the fact that its just a big ipod touch and that it was still stuck on AT&T’s network.

Oh and then there are all the feminine hygiene product jokes on that horrible horrible name for a product- something everyone seemed to agree upon. Like ipod became a generic name to describe an MP3 player- we will not stand by and watch the tablet computer be called a ipad- a form factor which Apple had nothing to to with its conception nor innovation!

These devices are called tablets- not ‘pads.There will never be an awkward moment when your female friend says “Check out my new ipad” and you instinctively glance at her nether region- embarrassingly realizing what you just did. Tablets. Tablets. Tablets!

Here at ABI we will be promoting this form factor and the use of the proper term tablet, in a new anythingbutipad section. In addition to the already amazing MP3 player reviews and content we will be doing the same for the tablet scene. A forward facing blog will arise soon on CrowdGather’s amazing new CMS, but for now we will be blogging and creating this content in our tablet sub forum. So join the conversation, there are already quite a few great posts on this blog to be:

21 Comments

Yes, what a letdown. Between the hype, the presentation, and the post-thoughts, it went to crap. But im sure theyll bring out a better model in the future. But its def not gonna be as revolutionary as they said it was.

Nobody here has actually used it, so why pass judgment on it?Besides as nice as the MSI tablet looks, it means jack squat if they did nothing to take advantage of the form factor.Maybe the reason why they didn’t call it a tablet is because it isn’t; it isn’t a full blown OS on an x86 processor, but thankfully it isn’t a stupid Win7 machine either poorly optimized for the form factor with no apps made for it either.Courier? LOL, vaporware.

I’m actually glad the iPad is named what it’s named. Everyone’s expectations were high for an actual Apple made tablet but it is what it is and it’s nothing near what a tablet should be. Big fail on Apple but typical to give their cult following something that Apple thinks they want.Joe you’re a freak. Win 7 on a netbook is the closest thing to an actual tablet currently and all you need is a touchscreen (yes win 7 is touchscreen compatible out of the box, even win xp is a tablet os). Come to think of it why do you think there’s no official mac tablet? Is it possible that mac os x can’t run on even atom machines like win 7? Also rule out courier yet. It isn’t out yet from Microsoft, which is a software company. I won’t be surprised if courier will be a program instead of an os and might run on the ipad.

John, I’d have to agree with Joe. The thing hasn’t released yet, we shouldn’t be making judgments on it yet. I don’t like the iPad very much either, but I do recognize that it will probably sell very well.

John, how is Microsoft’s initial tablet’s and UMPC’s doing? Oh, that’s right, in the crapper, with UMPC form factor completely dead, save for stupid Archos brining it back.Why did both fail? Because they put a touch screen on an OS designed for a mouse, and putting on a touchscreen didn’t make it any better or intuitive. Tell me, how are you going to use Word or anything else on a small touchscreen since no apps are made for the form factor? You can’t. Apple actually made their apps touchscreen friendly for the ipad. At least Android tablet’s are starting with an OS that was made for a small form factor.It’s like stupid Acer, putting in a multitouch pad that isn’t even smooth or even big enough for two fingers, and can’t even track my two fingers to even scroll a web page.The hacker community runs OSX on Atom based machines, but I’m sure it is a far cry from the performance of a top notch Core2Due + nVidia graphics.Personally I don’t see a need for one, and if Archos made their 5 IT with a capacitive screen and one that didn’t crash half the time, I’d get it.

Joe, tablets been around since win xp and still used in commercial market. UMPC failed similarly to Apple’s pda Newton because something cheaper came along. Palm killed Newton and netbooks Killed UMPC. Not to mention the entire smartphone market from win ce, palm, blackberry took over.I use mobile Office on my smartphone, can you say that for iPhone? Courier will have hand write recognition, voice recognition similar to the latest android, and even gesture interface. Let’s not forget Microsoft Surface and Zune HD interface. All this very possible in a win 7 os running on a Atom tablet. No wonder Apple can’t make a real tablet, They can’t put there own os on there own machine running on their own cpu! While Microsoft can get stuff running on craptastic machines like Acer. Instead Apple offers iphone extra large with hacked applets on fake mac os x. speaking of applets, Flash anyone? Even my old Nokia N76 can run Flash inside a browser! and so does my Dash 3G! iPad is not a tablet. It’s an oversized iPod!

they should have named it iTab. Oh wait, it’s Apple, they can’t think logicallyThe iPad is pretty much what happens when you run over an iPod Touch with a steamroller. Has literally all the same features as one, just with a bigger screen and faster hardware. Once again, Apple fails at delivering a quality product. Rather than innovating, they take something they have already mastered (if you consider how bad iPods sound as mastering the mp3 player) and making it bigger.

@Joe:You’re clearly mistaken. OS X runs on lower end hardware (such as the Atom) all the time. The Dell Mini 10V runs OS X beautifully, as do a lot of other netbooks.Please, think/research before you type.

@Isaac:You clearly have poor reading comprehension. The point that Joe was trying to make was that while OSX runs on atom, it does so with less zest than on a Core2Duo machine — which is entirely true. Please think/read before you type.@Grahm:I was under the impression that they would release the iPad or as I like to call it the MaxiPod unlocked. Being GSM this obviously disallows it from running on Verizon or Sprint, but who cares about them anyway?

A UMPC is not a netbook, and netbooks didn’t arrive until the UMPC was dead anyhow.Btw, I doubt you use Mobile office to write word documents or edit excel spreadsheets. Opening them up on an iphone is easy to do with the right add it program anyhow. And btw, I doubt your phone supports the latest version of flash, you know, the one that actually works with youtube?That and you still think Courier is an actual product, and for that matter runs on an Atom processor? On what empirical evidence?I like how ppl think that flash, an ancient plague of 1990s is still relevant today.

“Joe, tablets been around since win xp and still used in commercial market.”Yes John, we know that. But Microsoft’s “Pen Based Initiative” didn’t target tablets at a niche business market, but for everyone. Mission: FAILURE.”(if you consider how bad iPods sound as mastering the mp3 player)”They may have poor eq’s, and the only real good eq’s are on Cowon’s, but their sound quality is just fine for anyone but audiophiles.

@Joe checkit. http://www.oqo.com/index.htmlumpc failed officially by april 2009. Netbook is well ineffect by then, and killed the umpc.touch based initiative is an evolution from the pen based that preceded it. It was a natural step forward. If windows tablet such a big fail, then why are companies still making them? Samsung, Asus, Leveno, and toshiba are just a few names still making tablet notebooks and they have the added function of touch also!Surface showed up way before the iTouch and is currently being targeted to the comercial market while the Zune HD is basically a mini version of Surface.About mobile office, You can’t tell me that I don’t use it when I use it every day! and yes I do write docs and have adjusted excel sheets with my Dash 3G not to metion also having Outlook, powerpoint and Onenote. If you don’t know don’t assume. Oh even though there’s a youtube app for this phone, I mostly use skyfire to browse flash and silverlight websites including youtube!Let me know when skyfire is available for the iPad (iPhone), then I’ll digress.I’d like to add your point about archos and andriod is spot on! Too beta like and crash prone for the cost.

Your points are valid, though again, there does seem to be a redeux on the tablet form factor due to Win7. Of course, without Apple Windows would have no multi-touch gestures. And Apple wouldn’t have it without buying FingerWorks.I’ve actually used a Surface, while nice I wouldn’t spend the thousands of dollars they want on it. The ZuneHD isn’t bad either, except their execution of a Zune branch not working with the WinMob branch is just ridiculous and isn’t going to help them out.

Haha I have to agree somewhat on a lighter point. I do agree that the name iPad was funny, but I never really hated them for it (not that I’m saying you are). Tablet does seem like the more appropriate name, but they’re the ones naming their own products, not us xP I will agree on the fact that it seems like a big iPhone and I’m never going to know any better since I’m never gonna see one in person or get one for that matter.

Here’s a big fail iphone and android phones over win mo and symbian that’s very important for me. I can’t access my personal ftp without installing an app. Both symbian and win mo can access my ftp via default browser! Why install an app when you have full functionality of a real computer os on a phone. If the ipad 3G can’t do a simple web address without search, what other fails are there? With my ftp I can stream any file i want to my phone and I use this everyday! iphone, android, palm and blackberry are all jumping on to the dumb people os and is slowly binding everyone to it enclosed ecosystem while so called ugly, outdated mobile os allows so much for nothing.

HAHAHAHAHAiPad versus netbook.iPad versus mobile smartphone.iPad name fail.iDisagree:a) There have been other products with bad names. Like the ‘Wii’, which outsells the PS3 and XBOX 360.b) Apple would like to thank ABI for helping popularize the iPad. Why did Apple pick such a name? So it would be the butt of every lame joke in America, helping get the word ‘iPad’ hammered in people’s heads. Thanks again to ABI. This is like the 50th time I’ve seen the ‘product name fael card’ being played. Jeez, let it go, everyone already heard the joke before they even typed anythingbutipod.com in the address bar.c) iPod vs. MP3 players. Remember that guys? Just about every single freaking MP3 player in the market is a better value than an iPod. But did that help SanDisk in becoming MP3 industry leader? What about Sammy? What about Sony, Microsoft, or iRiver?Jeez people, history repeats itself. Stop beating the dead horse on the naming of the product. It’s really annoying when a second-tier news site like ABI keeps trying to hammer the point home – it’s disgusting, and we’ve gotten the point. The iPad will win, no matter what odds there are. Steve Jobs has engineered the iPad, and I have reverse-engineered his thinking.just my 2cTechOutsider

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